Give Me a Sign
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: One month after the war, the Aurors raid Lestrange Estate for anything dangerous or incriminating. Pansy makes a discovery that will shake the Wizarding community. Pansy/Tonks. ON HIATUS as of 4/13/2012
1. Raid

**Give Me a Sign**

It was warm. Even in the early morning, with the breeze, the group trudging up the hill was sweating. It could have been nerves….

In the distance, they could see another group surrounding the house. The wizards there were moving their wands from side to side in a slow rhythm. A blue sheen covered the house.

One of them, a man with bright red hair and a scar across his face, ran down to meet the two witches at the front of the group. "Alright Tonks, Pansy?" Bill Weasley asked.

"Wotcher, Bill," Tonks said, yawning. "How long have you lot been out here?"

"All night," Bill answered as they made their way up to the house. "There'd been vandalism and we had to make sure there wasn't anything dangerous before we even got to what was _supposed_ to be dangerous."

"Merlin help us," Pansy said. "How are we doing?"

"Just fine. We'll have you in the house within the next ten minutes."

"Impressive," she told him, smiling. "Did Kingsley clear you to come on the raid with us?"

"He did, Fleur didn't."

The witches chuckled and came to a stop. Tonks turned back to the rest of the team. "Relax for a bit," she said quietly. "We've got a bit of a wait."

"Then why did we have to be here now?" one of the men asked.

Pansy glared at him. "It's too early for you to act like a two year old, Aldhurst," she snapped. She wasn't in the mood. He'd already been on Kingsley's case the day before for letting her come. He didn't trust her any more than he had the night they'd met during the war.

"It'll only be a few minutes," Tonks said. "We should go over the plan again."

For the next few minutes they reworked the plan for the raid. Tonks split the teams up into groups of three, and handed out maps of the estate. By the time they'd gone over the meet up and transport plans, the other team was done checking for curses.

"Right," Bill said. "Safe to go in. I'm off home."

"Thanks, Bill," Tonks said. "Tell Fleur hello from us."

He nodded at them. "Good luck," he said, before Disapparating.

"Right," Tonks said. "Let's move in. Remember, if it looks off, don't touch it. If you have questions, send a Patronus to Pansy."

There were mumbles of understanding. Some of them went off onto the rest of the grounds. Tonks, Pansy and a few other groups went into the house itself. It was dark, of course, and all of them were on edge. None as much as Pansy.

"Molly killed her," she muttered to herself. "She's not here."

Tonks squeezed her shoulder. "We'll start with the drawing room."

* * *

An hour later, Pansy was patting herself on the back a bit. She'd managed to help the team without having any major panic attacks. Every memory she had of this place had to be pushed to the back of her mind, but she was doing well.

"What's in here?" Tonks asked.

"Er…that's where she tortured people." Reflexively, Pansy scratched her left forearm. The tattoo may have covered the scar, but she knew it was still there.

"I can handle this," Tonks told her. "If you want to go help the others."

Pansy shook her head. "It's fine. This is what I'm here for, right? Besides, you can't go in by yourself, and Kellan's still taking that stuff from the last room to transport."

Tonks nodded and pushed open the door.

It was the same as Pansy remembered it. White padded walls….

* * *

"_Argh!"_

"_Faster, Pansy!" Bellatrix snapped, pulling the girl up by her hair._

"_I think…I think my arm's broken," Pansy said, sinking back into the cushioned wall._

"_That's your own fault." Bellatrix threw another curse at her._

_Pansy dodged, trying to ignore the throbbing in her arm._

* * *

Broken mirror lining one side of the room.

* * *

_Pansy sent Bellatrix flying across the room with a well timed spell. Her mentor soared into the mirror, breaking it. She froze, not quite believing it. She'd never landed a curse fighting against Bellatrix. Backing away, she held her wand out, ready for any retaliation._

_The shards of glass rose into the air and soared directly at her. Her heat spell was somewhat effective, but the bigger pieces still made it through. She would have many cuts to heal before this day was over anyway. _

* * *

Blood stained wooden floor.

* * *

_She opened her eyes slightly. The pain in her arm was nearly unbearable. She shut her eyes tight, willing herself not to cry in front of Bellatrix._

_But it wasn't Bellatrix's voice that spoke. "Relax. I'll have your arm fixed up in no time."_

"_Rodolphus?"_

"_Yes," was all he said. _

_Pansy didn't dare to look over at her arm. She held perfectly still until the pain subsided. Finally, Rodolphus helped her into a sitting position. _

"_You should go get some rest."_

_She nodded, looking down at the small pool of blood on the wood. One more stain to add to the others…._

* * *

"Pansy?"

The younger witch shook herself. "Sorry, Tonks. Spaced out."

"Can't handle being back home?" Aldhurst asked.

Pansy jumped. She hadn't noticed him come in. Before she could go off on him, Tonks jumped in.

"Terrance," she said through gritted teeth. "I've been up since three in the morning getting this raid together. It's safe to say that the long hours of the past week have played merry hell with my patience. If you don't back off my wife, you will end up in St. Mungo's with some very curious ailments."

Aldhurst scowled at the pair of them and held up a purple book. "Any idea what this is? There's no writing in it."

Pansy shook her head. "Put it in the Investigative transport. I'll have a look at it later."

The older man looked sour at being told what to do, but left the room.

"He's right, much as I hate to admit it," Pansy said.

"About what?" Tonks asked.

"Being back here…. It's… a lot to handle."

Tonks nodded. "Well, we're almost done at least."

"Are you kidding? There's still half the house to get through."

"Another few teams are coming to relieve us in about an hour. We'll head back to the Ministry, nap in the trainee barracks, and then get to work on the stuff in the Investigative pile."

"Right…." Pansy said. "Well, there's nothing in here but bad memories. Why don't we—"

"Pansy? Tonks?" Kellan said peeking into the room. "We need you upstairs."

They followed him and found another group of Aurors standing in front of a heavy black door.

"It was their office," Pansy explained.

"Wonderful," Aldhurst said sarcastically. He quailed at a look from Tonks. "Er…do you know how to get in?"

"I do, actually," Pansy said, walking forward. "Whether it actually lets me or not is an entirely different matter." She pricked her finger on one of the door's spikes, then touched the keyhole. Her blood spread out over the door, filling in the cracks of the intricate design. It would have been beautiful, if it weren't so disgusting. The door creaked open. "Pureblood offering," she explained to the group. "Tonks, Kellan and I will take this room."

The rest of the team seemed happy with that plan. They left as the other three entered the dark room.

"_Lumos maxima_!" Kellan said.

They poked around, careful not to touch anything. Merlin knew what was cursed in here…. As the other two threw things into boxes, Pansy stopped at the cluttered oak desk. She used her wand to shuffle through the papers.

"What is it?" Kellan asked her. Tonks came over to look too.

"Looks like letters," Pansy said. She bound them together with a wave of her wand, and put them in her bag. "I know we're supposed to be working as a team," she began, noticing their looks, "but Merlin only knows what these say. I have a feeling Kingsley might prefer to go over them personally. Or at very least, give the task to someone."

"Makes sense," Kellan muttered.

A ghostly squid came down from the ceiling. "Relief team is here," it said.

Without another glance at the room, the three grabbed their boxes and left.


	2. Child

**Give Me a Sign**

Pansy was deeply regretting her choice to show Kingsley the letters first. He had, of course, handed the papers off to her to inspect. She locked herself in Tonks's office to go through them so she didn't have to deal with a never-ending barrage of questions. All of the papers were actually pieces of a very long letter. It was dated April 30th, two days before the battle. She levitated all of them, switching pages here and there so it was finally in sequential order. As she started reading, she understood why Kingsley had given this job to her. This letter was a glimpse of the sane part of Bellatrix. True, that part was small, and there were still some insane ramblings throughout, but still…. Most people thought Voldemort's most loyal supporter wasn't capable of any rational thought. That was what made her so dangerous—she was. Pansy understood that, which was why the further she got into the letter, the more worried she became. She read the whole thing through four times, trying to convince herself that she'd read it wrong. She hadn't. She grabbed the sheets of the letter that were the most relevant and sprinted out of the door.

"Whoa, where's the fire?" Kellan asked as she raced past.

"You seen Tonks? Or Potter? Or Kingsley?"

"Oh holy bollocks," he said. "It must be bad if you're including Potter. Kingsley's office, all three are there."

"Thanks!"

By the time she made it there, she was panting. Running across the entire Ministry of Magic complex was not a good idea. "I need to see Minister Shacklebolt and…the other two," she told the secretary.

"One moment."

Pansy bent over, trying to catch her breath.

"Pansy?"

"Tonks…we need to go back to the Estate," she said, walking into the Minister's office and shutting the door.

"Why?" Harry asked curiously. "I thought we did a pretty thorough sweep."

Pansy held up the letter. "I think Bellatrix had a kid."

* * *

"Please say something?"

Pansy just glared. She'd wanted to keep this as low key as possible, but no one knew quite what to expect. Thus, she was sitting in the back of a Ministry car, squished between Tonks and Aldhurst.

"He was the only one who wasn't busy," Tonks muttered. "Play nice."

"Are you sure about this?" Aldhurst asked, demonstrating his knack for having the world's worst timing. "What did the letter say, anyway?"

"Where did you find this guy?" Harry muttered.

"What? I'm just saying—"

"Here," Pansy said. "I'll read it. The part that matters, at least. It says: The Dark Lord shall prevail. Of this I am sure; however, my mortality is still a factor. If anything should happen to me, I trust you more with the boy than I trust Rodolphus. In any case, it is possible that the pair of us should die. If that should happen, Janus Rabastian Lestrange is left to you. You will find him in the underchamber of the house. You will know how to wake him."

"What if it's a basilisk?"

"Dear Merlin…."

"Whatever it is," Kingsley said, "we need to find it. If it is a child, we need to find him before any harm comes to him."

"If he's Bellatrix's, we're probably a bit too late for that," Harry muttered.

"That's for sure," Pansy agreed.

"You never saw a kid, though?" Tonks asked.

"Not once. Would've let you know. But…."

"What?"

"It's just something Rodolphus told me once. He told me that Bellatrix wasn't a mother. At the time I thought he was referring to me—as if I was trying to make her into a mother figure or something. But now that I think about it...even if I had been, it was an odd statement to make. He was just trying to make me feel better about…well, about not being as evil as Bellatrix. He could've said anything…."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence. They flew through the protective barrier and pulled up in front of the house. It was quiet enough—most vandals stayed away now that they knew the Aurors had raided the place.

"Do you know where the underchamber is?" Harry asked as they entered the house.

"No. I never even heard her mention it," Pansy told him.

"How are we supposed to find it then?" Aldhurst asked.

"Use your brain and look," she snapped. Taking out her wand, she walked off down one of the side passages.

"You should just ignore him," Harry said, following her.

"Potter, do you remember our fourth year?"

"I try to forget, but yes."

"You remember how the entire school gave you shit up until the first Task? And then how Slytherin continued to do so for the duration of the tournament?"

"Yeah…?"

"That's what this is for me," Pansy said, turning to him. "Except there's no first Task coming to win people over; no loving Weasley family to cheer me on. It's not just Aldhurst with this attitude—it's everyone. People want to hate me for being Bellatrix's…pet. But they still expect me to play nice and give them all the information I can on the Death Eaters—which I wouldn't have if I hadn't made some glaring errors in life choices." She paused to help Harry pull down a curtain. They found nothing, and kept walking. "And you, Kingsley and Tonks don't have time to be my champion. I may have to live with being hated for the time being, but I don't have to like it. And ignoring it won't make it go away. You know it, and I know it," she added with a smirk.

Harry was quiet as they attempted to move a bookshelf. "You know—" he began.

"Not interested in forgiveness, Potter," she told him.

"How did you kn—"

"You Gryffindors are a predictable lot," she said, but she was smiling. "I know you've forgiven everyone their past wrongs—you're Harry bleeding Potter. It's what you do. I'm just…trying to move on right now."

"I can understand that," he mumbled. "How many Dark Arts books could they have owned?" he yelped as they came across another heavy wooden case.

"A fair few," Pansy said. "Push on three. One…two…three!"

The shelf fell away with a decent crash, revealing…

Nothing.

Harry swore and kicked the wall.

"Er…Potter?" Pansy said, staring at the spot he kicked. "Do that again."

He did so. A clink sounded behind the wallpaper. "Severing charm?"

Pansy nodded, and a few slash-happy seconds later the wall was bare. A short door stood in front of them. She pricked her finger again, and held it against the keyhole. "Call Tonks."

* * *

The walkway and stairs were small. Even Pansy, easily the shortest of the group, had to duck down a bit as they descended. Some of her panic from that morning was coming back. At least then she'd known what she was getting into. But this was new, and she couldn't help thinking it was some kind of trap.

They made it to the bottom of the stairs and spread out into the room. They didn't need to cast any light charms—a bright blue glow was coming from the center of the chamber. Pansy approached it—wand raised.

The glow was coming from a small glass coffin. "It's a boy," she told them. She opened the lid of the coffin.

"Pansy, wait!" Tonks said.

It was too late. Pansy had already picked the child up.

He yawned and opened his eyes.

"That's her kid for sure," Tonks said.

"How do you know?" Kingsley asked.

"Ever seen me unmorphed?"

"No," all the men in the room said.

Tonks took a deep breath, and her facial features seemed to relax. She smiled when she heard the gasps. "Black family features are rather distinct. Thank Merlin I'm a metamophmagus. Don't think I could stomach walking round looking like Bellatrix." She changed back as Aldhurst walked forward. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"What do you think?" he snapped, raising his wand.

Pansy disarmed him as the child began to cry. "Are you mental?" she yelled

"That thing is the only living remainder of this abominable family," Aldhurst said, picking up his wand again. "Better we kill it now before it has time to go psycho like its mother."

"That _thing_," Harry growled, "is a child. You're no better than the Death Eaters if you start killing kids."

"As for him being the last of that 'abominable family', he's not," Tonks said. "There's still Draco, and there's still me."

Aldhurst reddened, but said nothing.

"We do not kill children," Kingsley said. "Harry's right. Hurting kids because of what or who their parents were is exactly the same as Voldemort's regime. I will not have it. We will take him back to the Ministry, and discuss this. No one else is to know about him. Understood?"

Pansy, Tonks and Harry all nodded, and shot glares at Aldhurst. After a moment, he nodded and lowered his wand.

"Fine," he said. "Let's get out of here. This place makes me feel ill."

* * *

_**LbN: Hi there, everyone! Hope you're liking the story so far! Shoot me a review and let me know. Also, there's a new poll up on my profile if you want to vote. I'm planning a new series, and I need feedback. :)**_


	3. Name

**Give Me a Sign**

The official story would be that they'd found him—just one more wizard child left parentless by Voldemort. Technically, it wasn't a lie. Pansy stared at him as he happily shoveled bits of pancake into his mouth. "Rodolphus must have woken him a few times," she said, hearing Tonks come in.

"Why do you say that?" Tonks asked.

"He can feed himself. And he just said 'No'."

"How though? All you did was pick him up…."

"Probably some kind of sleep spell that's broken by physical contact. Let's face it, can you see Bellatrix rocking him to sleep every night?"

Tonks snorted at the idea. "I don't get it…him…" she mused. "Bellatrix was only out of Azkaban for a little over two years. How could she have had a kid?"

Pansy shrugged. "He looks like he's almost two. If it happened right after she got out…."

"Eurgh…. I don't want to think about it."

They sat in silence for a long moment, watching the baby play with his food. Pansy finally looked over at Tonks. "You know it has to be us, right?"

"Like hell it does."

"Tonks, do you think Aldhurst's reaction is going to be the exception, or the rule? Because I'm betting on the rule. You and Draco are the only people he has left…and do you really want Draco raising him?"

"Pansy—"

"Besides, look at him! He looks like her. The only thing he got from Rodolphus is his nose. People will wonder. He—"

"Okay, I get it," Tonks sighed. "We'll have to rename him."

Pansy nodded slowly. "Do you…do you think maybe…if people knew who he was, and who adopted him—"

"They would react the same way as Aldhurst. You're right. He doesn't really have a chance. Just…we've been together for less than a year, and we're already adding a baby to the equation."

"We'll just look at it as if you knocked me up," Pansy said, grinning.

"And you gave birth to a two-year-old…." Tonks added. She still sounded serious, but the corners of her mouth were twitching. "This is insane."

"This is the fallout," Pansy said. "There are a lot worse things we could be dealing with than a kid."

"Are you ready to be a mom? You don't want to…I don't know…travel the world first?"

"I've been through a war. I'm set. And as for being ready to be a mom… pureblood girls are raised to be baby factories. I've been marginally okay with the idea since third year."

"Merlin…."

"Please tell me you aren't planning on doing what I think you're planning on doing," Harry said quietly, coming through the door.

"Not a word, Potter," Pansy said.

"Tonks?"

"Better he's with family."

Harry shrugged. "What are you going to tell everyone tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Ron and Hermione's engagement party?"

Both witches swore.

"Language," Harry said, grinning and covering the baby's ears. "Janus is listening."

"We have to pick another name for him," Pansy said.

"Harry Ronald Neville Frederick George Seamus Tonks?" Harry suggested.

"Don't make me hex you, Potter."

* * *

"Who is this?" Molly asked ecstatically.

"Nico Rhydian Tonks," Tonks said. "Pansy named him…."

"Quiet, you," Pansy said. "Hi Mrs. Weasley."

"Please, call me Molly. I didn't know you two were thinking about adopting," she added.

"It's not final yet, but yeah," Tonks said, handing Nico to Molly.

"Everyone's in the garden. Let's go tell them the good news."

"Let's not make it a big thing," Pansy said. "It's Weasley and Granger's night."

That turned out to be impossible—even Hermione agreed that the baby trumped another Weasley engagement.

"Cute always wins out," she told Tonks with a grin.

Tonks laughed.

Pansy watched all of them with a smile. She still felt uncomfortable at the various family gatherings, and tended to maintain a respectful distance. Normally, she'd spend the evening talking to Harry, or Arthur, and avoiding eye contact with the rest. They didn't really know what to do around her either. It was all very weird.

"Pansy?"

"Hey Johnson…er…Weasley now, I guess."

Angelina nodded at her. "Could I talk to you? Privately?"

Pansy shrugged and followed the older girl outside. "What's on your mind?"

"That's Bellatrix's kid," she said, without preamble. "Don't," she told Pansy, holding up a hand. "I won't tell anyone, and I think what you're doing is…admirable. The only reason I know is because I saw him change back a little while ago. How are you doing it?"

"It's a disguise spell," Pansy explained. "We can't keep it up forever, but we figure we'll do it for a few months. Only when we go out, just to be safe."

Angelina nodded.

"What's this about?" Pansy asked. "You didn't call me out here just to confirm your suspicions."

"No, I… I just wanted to tell you…. Do this because you want to, not because you feel like you have to. Hannah's started the War Orphans' Home already—the kid would be safe—"

"But he'd be alone. If I thought he would have a better life not knowing who he is, I might have considered letting him go. But he's a spitting image of Bellatrix, and even if Hannah found parents who could look past that…. He'd get older and think he wasn't wanted by the family he had left. It's not his fault his mother was a raging psychopath."

Angelina smiled. "Sounds like you've thought it out at least. I'm happy for you both, if this is what you want."

"Thanks," Pansy said, starting to feel awkward.

"I'm speaking from experience," Angelina said, not missing the way the younger witch fidgeted.

"You mean you and George?"

The older witch nodded. "I love him; don't get me wrong, but still…the way it happened…" she broke off, shrugging. "Let's get back to the party."

Pansy nodded and led the way back inside.

* * *

The baby's nose was a cute point, and his hair was jet black and wavy again. He was snoring quietly in his crib, oblivious to the two witches watching him.

"Molly knows there's something up," Tonks said, smiling at Pansy. "I didn't tell her, and I don't think she knows exactly, but she was grilling me for information."

"Course she was… nosy woman."

"Behave."

Pansy smiled. "When do we tell him? One day he'll have to know…."

"Not tonight," Tonks said, taking Pansy's hand. "Let's go to bed."


End file.
